The United Kingdom is underestimating the risk of "serious disruption" to flights when it leaves the European Union, Irish airline Ryanair has warned as it announced that its quarterly net profit had risen by 12% despite a cancellations crisis in 2017.

Gearing up for a chaotic Brexit, UK's aviation, generating an annual turnover of £22 billion (€25 bn) per year, is preparing for the worst.
It is also one of the sectors most reliant on regulation and, as a consequence, vulnerable to a chaotic Brexit, with the UK potentially excluded from the Single European Sky and SESAR (Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research) programme.

Britain could be excluded from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) after it quits the EU, raising the prospect of increased certification costs for airlines and manufacturers and dashing London's hopes of keeping its membership.

Liquid E-fuels made from renewable power, the latest buzzword among proponents of alternative fuels, are not the answer to Europe's quest to decarbonise transport because their production is still inefficient and costly, according to a new study being published today (1 December).

E-mail exchanges between the European Commission and Airbus show how the European aircraft manufacturer was offered privileged access to the EU decision-making process, allowing it to write its own environmental rules, writes Andrew Murphy.

It is essential that the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and Europe retain the power to have the final say on regulating aircraft and the ability, with parliamentary oversight, to adjust future European regulations as needed to changing circumstances, writes Bill Hemmings.

EU lawmakers and member states agreed on Wednesday (18 October) a measure to guard the carbon market in case of a breakdown in Brexit talks as well as extending the exemption of international flights from the bloc's charges for carbon emissions until the end of 2023.

The European Commission’s proposal to incentivise the production of biofuels for aircraft with a 20% “multiplier” goes in the right direction, says Thierry Nowaczyk from Airbus. The question is whether this is enough to fill the price gap with fossil-based kerosene, he told EURACTIV.com in an interview.

Plans to rapidly scale up the use of biofuels in air transport inevitably mean increasing reliance on Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO), most of which currently contain palm oil, the worst polluting biofuel, warns Almuth Ernsting.

A less naive, more reactive, Europe must have a vision for the future of the aviation sector, taking into account the interests of all: aircraft manufacturers, airport platforms and airlines, writes Franck Proust.

The European Parliament approved on Wednesday (11 September) a plan to keep commercial flights in and out of Europe exempt from the EU's carbon emission controls until 2021, in a move likely to be welcomed by the aviation industry.